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Tuesday, October 08, 2013

John Boehner's Might-Have-Beens

One week and counting. Can you remember when this country was a pretty nice place to live in? I can. While its complete and utter destruction may be a tragic thing for some of you to behold, I find myself looking for - and finding with no effort - scads of unintentional giggles. I never dreamed that America's political apocalypse would be so much fun to behold - and yet it is! Who'd have thought?

The Great Belushi

It really must be a difficult thing to be John Boehner these days. Think about it: He looks to all the world like such an unprincipled, petty and mean-spirited little man. I wonder if he wishes he could turn back the clock just one week. He could have done the right thing and wound up showing a bit of political courage. He knows (everyone knows)that the votes to fund the Affordable Care Act are there, but he just can't bring himself to allow those votes to be heard. He doesn't dare incur the wrath of the idiotic extremists who today call the shots in the GOP. His position as Speaker of the House of Reprehensibles is more important to him than the well being of a nation whose population now exceeds a quarter-of-a-billion people. Eventually he'll have no other choice but to let those votes go to the floor - but by that time he'll have been forced (shamed) into doing so. As the late John Belushi would have said, he might have done the right thing at the right time...."BUT NOOOO!!!"

It should be said for the record (and I'm not the first to say it) that any political party that would bring the country they profess to love so well to the economic precipice - as the Republicans have cheerfully done more than once - needs to be relabeled. In his New York Times column this morning, Frank Bruni cautions any of us who would be quick to make Nazi analogies. True, this is not 1938 and John Boehner is certainly no Adolf Hitler. But it cannot be denied that the Republican party is devolving into something perfectly dreadful. While they have a long way to go before they can be rationally compared to the Third Reich, it must be conceded that the "Grand Old Party" is no longer the party of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. And were he to rise from the dead at midnight tonight, it takes not a smidgeon of imagination to conclude that old Jeff Davis would find himself right at home in today's GOP. Debate that point all you want.

They keep referring to "Obamacare" (they don't dare call it by it's real name, Affordable Care) as a bill. It's not a bill - it's a law that has been passed and upheld by the Supreme Court. And yet they have shut this nation down rather than see that people of modest means get the healthcare they so desperately need and desire. Ain't that a hoot?

Teddy Boy

If I had been walking this earth one-hundred years ago, I might very well have been a registered Republican. Back in those bygone days they had a Progressive wing that was decades ahead of its time. Kiss those days goodbye forever. The party of Teddy Roosevelt has morphed into the party of Uncle Fester. That's okay. Soon they'll be gone forever. While the Democrats are useless and impotent, there is still a molecule of hope for them. The Republicans, on the other hand, are beyond redemption. The very fact that a bloviating dingbat like Ted Cruz is today one of their most recognizable spokesmen is all the proof you need that this is a party that has lost its mind. All of Boehner's horses and all of Boehner's men will not be able to put that party together again. Farewell, and good riddance.

Which brings me back the Speaker of the House. He's got to cave eventually, he hasn't any other choice. It's too late for an honorable way out of this mess. That opportunity has come and gone. The longer the government shutdown goes on, the worse it gets for the Republicans. It won't be the Democrats who pay the ultimate political price for this fiasco - count on it. A recent poll suggests that seventy-two percent of the American people put the blame for what is happening at the feet of the GOP. In the days to come that number is not going to get any better.

The freaks on the extreme right should be seeking the perfection of government - not its destruction. As for me, I hope this shutdown continues. I hope it lasts for a REALLY LONG TIME! I want to watch the reactions of all those "government-is-evil" twits as their world crumbles all around them. A very handy civics lesson could be learned for untold millions of people who desperately need to be educated. As a matter of fact, I want to just sit back in my easy chair and watch this place implode for lack of government. That would be a laugh-and-a-half! Can you even imagine the chaos?

How long do you think it will take until the fools in Ted Cruz's district - the same ones who at this minute are cheering him on - get down on their knees and scream for the "gub'ment" to be turned back on? Sure, give
them the right wing paradise of their twisted fantasies, and watch in
glee (call it schadenfreude if you must) as their once-great nation
sinks into an ideological and economic cesspool. Molly Ivins once called her native Texas "the national laboratory for bad government". Since the place is so dysfunctional and mismanaged, few states in this deranged union are more reliant on government handouts than the Lone Star State. As long as the government shutdown is in effect that cash won't be coming in. I suspect that neither Ted nor his dimwitted constituency have thought this one through. A lot of them will suffer needlessly. This should get quite amusing.John Boehner's one chance to be a hero has passed. He will not have his moment on the mountaintop. Whatever move he makes at this point will be seen for what it obviously is - sheer desperation. He said earlier this week that this latest Washington meltdown "isn't a damn game". He's wrong, of course. Itis a game - it's a game he is losing.

Strange days indeed. Isn't this a time?Tom DeganGoshen, NYAFTERTHOUGHT:

In the little epilogue at the end of the Belushi film, Animal House, it is revealed that his character, the beer guzzling, food-fighting, Bluto Blutowsky, would go on to become a United States senator. If only that were true. I know he'd have been an improvement when compared to much of what we have today. For the record: Nearly thirty-two years after his passing, I still miss John Belushi.

BREAKING NEWS:

A couple of weeks ago I suggested that Long Island representative Peter King would be smart if he bolted the GOP. According to a report on the Irish Central website posted this morning he is now threatening to do just that. Here's a link to read it:

105 Comments:

Right on Tom, thank Allah John Boehner, Ted Cruz and all the other we hate government Tea Party radicals weren't in charge of the Obama-care roll out and it's wonderful sign up website!Why they probably would have outsourced the design and development of the sign up website to a Canadian company, because they hate America do much.

As always a great article and spot on. It's sad that there are several(not a majority unfortunately) good members of the House. Peter King being a great example. We need more moderate Republicans but as you point out as long as the old grey haired conservatives are in charge that idea is never going to come to be reality. It's sad to listen to the Republicans(of which I am one) blame the Democrats for the government shutdown along with everything else that's wrong with the world but yet the Republicans seem to be their own biggest obstacle to getting anything done. And if I see or hear one more broadcast where rather than offer up a tangible solution to this shutdown one political side or the other is busier trying to blame the other I am going to scream.

WASHINGTON — Despite refusing numerous Republican offers of compromise over the past several weeks, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid now claims that his insistence on that government spending remains the same represents “the biggest compromise” he has ever made.

Reid has repeatedly declared that the only way to end the government shutdown is for the House to pass the Senate’s funding bill, which funds the government at sequester levels for the next two months. Republicans have offered amendments to that bill, and want to resolve the differences between the two parties with a conference committee.

Reid has refused those proposals, and the Senate has each time sent back the same “clean” funding bill, which continues to run the government at sequester levels, to the House.

Republicans have accused Reid of being intransigent and of refusing to negotiate.

“By refusing to negotiate, Harry Reid and the president are putting our country on a pretty dangerous path,” Boehner said Tuesday.

Who cares if a govt who lies and spies on it's people is closed down 17%?

Top Internal Revenue Service Obamacare official Sarah Hall Ingram discussed confidential taxpayer information with senior Obama White House officials, according to 2012 emails obtained by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and provided to The Daily Caller.

Lois Lerner, then head of the IRS Tax Exempt Organizations division, also received an email alongside White House officials that contained confidential information.

Ingram attempted to counsel the White House on a lawsuit from religious organizations opposing Obamacare’s contraception mandate. Email exchanges involving Ingram and White House officials — including White House health policy advisor Ellen Montz and deputy assistant to the president for health policy Jeanne Lambrew — contained confidential taxpayer information, according to Oversight.

The emails provided to Oversight investigators by the IRS had numerous redactions with the signifier “6103.”

Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code forbids a federal employee from “disclos[ing] any return or return information obtained by him in any manner in connection with his service as such an officer or an employee.”

Federal employees who illegally disclose confidential taxpayer information could face five years in prison.

“Thanks, David. Thanks for the information on [6103],” White House official Lambrew wrote to IRS official David Fish in a July 20, 2012 exchange. “I am still hoping to understand whether the 50 percent rule is moot if the organization does not offer goods and services for sale to the general public. Do we assume that organizations like [6103] do offer goods and services for sale?”

Another email from Montz to Ingram and others refers to the “[6103] memo” and the “[6103] letter” while discussing organizations that are not required to file 990′s.

Ingram appeared before Rep. Darrell Issa’s House Oversight Committee Wednesday and claimed she could not recall a document that contained confidential taxpayer information.

“Well one of the areas of interest is there’s a significant redaction that quotes the statute 6103. Do you know who is underneath that blackout?” Issa asked Ingram.

“I don’t recall the document so I can’t help you with what’s underneath that redaction,” Ingram said.

" As long as the government shutdown is in effect that cash won't be coming in"

Unfortunately much of the money that that the rest of us send to Texas is earmarked for the Amerikan Murder Industry - ie Military Bases and Operations and the bloated defense industry. We all know that these "businesses" are too virtuous to be denied their goodies.

When the gov gets back to business they should start sending you funding from the Mental Health wing of the NIH, because you give so many mentally defective folks a forum on you comment threads.

I am a native American, but please keep it to yourself, I don't need the embarrassment, though being a Canadian with Stevie Slime in charge is becoming quite shameful also!

Benghazi again. Yes, of course. Forget the hundreds of thousands of Bush war dead, slaughtered for lies about Saddam being in cahoots with al-Qaeda and lies about non-existent WMDs and "nukular" aluminum tubes.

But who cares if they are still CURRENTLY dead. Those lies don't matter when we have...

Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi!

Now go cut food stamps, kick some kids out of Head Start, and plunge the US into default. That should send that tingle up your leg.

Why doesn't Boehner do the smart thing, have the House pass a Bill removing funding for the ACA, and send it to the Senate for their action. If the Senate refuses to vote on it or doesn't pass the bill, there will be no funds to operate the ACA. The Bill sits in the House and the ACA goes unfunded.

Leaves the door open for negotiations on the debt ceiling and funding for the balance of the govt.

After the best Canada has to offer in website development has failed in 3.5 years to get the ACA up and working why not delay funding until they get it right? The bill to the USA taxpayer so far is only $635 million, whats another couple of $100 million if it means getting it right?

Why doesn't Boehner do the smart thing, have the House pass a Bill removing funding for the ACA, and send it to the Senate for their action. If the Senate refuses to vote on it or doesn't pass the bill, there will be no funds to operate the ACA. The Bill sits in the House and the ACA goes unfunded.

Leaves the door open for negotiations on the debt ceiling and funding for the balance of the govt.

After the best Canada has to offer in website development has failed in 3.5 years to get the ACA up and working why not delay funding until they get it right? The bill to the USA taxpayer so far is only $635 million, whats another couple of $100 million if it means getting it right?

Jeez, it must be hard to be a conservative these days. You can just see the desapration while they TRY and BLAME all this BS on Obama when clearly it's Boehner and his Teabag masters doing all the damage. Anonymous even brought up Benghazi! Hilarious.

My wish for you is you are captured by the people that your Chicago Jesus is selling weapons to and after they make you squeal like the pig you are with their "manly" love making, they film the slitting of your throat and put on You Tube so your family can watch you beg for your life. I'd give it a thumbs up, ass hole!

Alexis de Tocqueville, said this would happen if liberalism took over America.

"After having thus taken each individual one by one into its powerful hands, and having molded him as it pleases, the sovereign power extends its arms over the entire society; it covers the surface of society with a network of small, complicated, minute, and uniform rules, which the most original minds and the most vigorous souls cannot break through to go beyond the crowd; it does not break wills, but it softens them, bends them and directs them; it rarely forces action, but it constantly opposes your acting; it does not destroy, it prevents birth; it does not tyrannize, it hinders, it represses, it enervates, it extinguishes, it stupefies, and finally it reduces each nation to being nothing more than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd."[Alexis de Tocqueville Democracy in America]

Tom, long time lurker some time posteryour cat fights are funthe silly fur flyingyou damn republicansplease choke on yourown damn furballs!!!yet you never domuch like your ideasregurgitated ad in finitumthey will never dielong live stupiditylong live failurelong ago and far away ????

Republican support of President Obama’s healthcare legislation rose by eight percentage points when identified as the Affordable Care Act instead of “Obamacare,” a new Fox News poll has found.

Still, support among Republicans for the Affordable Care Act was not all that robust. Just 22 percent of GOP voters surveyed between Sept. 6 and 9 said they supported the ACA, as compared with the 14 percent who said they supported “Obamacare.”

Seems, at the very least, 8% of Republican voters are really ignorant. What, both ignorant and racist? Hard to argue against that.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. government's aggressive prosecution of leaks and efforts to control information are having a chilling effect on journalists and government whistle-blowers, according to a report released Thursday on U.S. press freedoms under the Obama administration.

I gotta disagree! While you believe the GOP will never be in the White House again, I say there is a very good shot at this. It has less to do with GOP strategy, ideals, and platform; but a lot more with the stupid people in our country.

Am I alone? Do others have friends and acquaintances who are so dense that they missed the entire GOP Battle Royal month of September about this shut down?

"Obama's gotta go!"

We are a sound bite nation, incapable of even remembering short term events and willingly believe the first asshole we hear on the radio or TV. We'd rather watch monkeys drink their own piss on YouTube than research an issue. The morons shall rise again!

...and we continue to dance to the same old tunes. I'm guilty of it as well.

Can we all agree that whatever the GOP says is not only "false," but a completely fabricated goddamn outright lie?

Can we stop pretending that there is a glimmer of hope for anyone who supports the GOP or the GOP themselves? "Are Republicans trying to hurt the middle class?" "Do Republicans care about affordable health care?" "Do Republicans care about education?" These are all questions being asked the media and especially the left wing media (Maddow, Shultz, etc...)

This is NO! We've known this for years!! We the fuck are we still debating it?!?! I'm tired of these 'rhetorical round-tables' were some poor damn moderate Republican analyst tries to explain the GOP, or the latest crazy sound-bit, or the latest crazy assertion.

Maybe it's good for the ratings, but it doesn't do anything to advance the national discussion.

We need to stop taking these assholes seriously and stop trying to debate them. It's time to talk about a more positive agenda and stop worrying what the fucking Republicans think. They're not complicated.

If no one has figured it out yet, the GOP wants to do away with the Federal Government and as many taxes as possible so that business can continue screwing us all. Their also partial to sending out kids overseas to die. That's about it. Discussion over.

Maddow said it best, "This is about Democrats against Republicans, this about those who care against those who don't." Thankfully, those who care still outnumber those who don't.

What are we doing with that? Not a goddamn thing. We should be hammering the GOP daily in their markets. No compromise. No discussion. Why? Because they won't compromise and they aren't interested in listening. So let's move on.

Let's start talking about a better progressive agenda and see how we can get than enacted. Let's do it before the monkey-piss-drinking-watchers of our nation get back into the voting booth.

Near MOUNT PISGAH, N.C. — At a spot 5,000 feet above sea level and 20 miles from the nearest town, an innkeeper decided Friday to defy the federal government and reopen his lodge.

That stand lasted about two hours as National Park Service rangers blocked the entrances to the privately run Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge Parkway after owner Bruce O'Connell decided to reopen his dining room, gift shop and country store at noon Friday for lunch. The federal government had forced the inn, in a leased building on federal land, to shut down at 6 p.m. ET Thursday at the height of fall foliage — and tourism — season.

Obama brownshirters force private business to shut down on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

All you need to know about the rollout of Obamacare’s subsidized insurance exchanges is that, so far, the toughest questions posed to the Obama administration have come from Comedy Central. “We’re going to do a challenge,” Jon Stewart told Kathleen Sebelius on the Daily Show. “I’m going to try and download every movie ever made, and you are going to try and sign up for Obamacare, and we’ll see which happens first.”

Ah-ha-ha-ha! LOL LOL LOL!

Must be the Coke brothers hiring IT people to bring the sites down! LOL LOL!

Oh Anonymous, so typical. When a conservative has no valid argument he resorts to childish insults. This thread is not about benghazi, which BTW is no worse than what happened under Bush 5 or 6 times with no outrage from the right. It's clearly just a deflection on your part, but since you brought it up, where did I EVER say it was "hilarious"? I think you and your teabagger buddies are hilarious. If you are so upset about Benghazi, why not ask Boehner and the GOP house why they voted down additional security funding? Like MILLIONS of other Americans, my wife and I will be signing up for insurance as soon as we have picked a plan that we like. WE have researched several.

"my wife and I will be signing up for insurance as soon as we have picked a plan that we like. WE have researched several."

Now that is Hilarious. You expect us to believe that after the ACA being published over 3.5 years ago, you are just now reading the bill to see which one works best for you?After researched, what if you find that none of them are best for you?

Or is the real reason you haven't signed up is due to the ACA website sign up page?

Guess the former Speaker of the House was right, you have to read the Bill to find out what's in it.

We can't believe that if you are one of the 30 million Americans without health insurance, why you would delay one day to sign up and get your much need insurance? I thought the ACA was a matter of life and death for Americans like you?

Last night, the organization formerly known as President Obama's reelection campaign, Organizing for Action, held an Obamacare event in Greenville, South Carolina. The event was called "Obamacare and You!"

"Let's discuss what this Affordable Care Act means for you and your community. This session will help you understand the benefits and will equip you to spread the word about the benefits of Obamacare in your community. Come out and get the facts!!," the event advertisement said.

But it wasn't widely attended. Only two people, in addition to the two organizers, showed up.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius had a front-row view of the problems plaguing the website that the government established to allow people to shop for health insurance under Obamacare.

Sebelius and Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney were at an enrollment and education event on Thursday at Heinz Field to promote Healthcare.gov, but people who showed up encountered problems in signing up for coverage on the website.

Unable to handle heavy online traffic and riddled with technical glitches, the website has been a source of criticism of the Obama administration and the new Affordable Care Act since its start on Oct. 1.

Sebelius, who is making similar trips to cities across the country to spread the word about the website, told the audience of about 100 people that Healthcare.gov was “open for business.”

Compare and contrast:1. Obamcare's a failure because its website(*1) is too popular.2. Obamacare's a failure because an Obamacare event was sparsely attended.

*1. Really, one site for 27 states, seven more for the state-federal states, and 17 different state (plus DC) ones. And most people probably start at healthcare.gov because it has links to the state-run exchanges, which is sort of like one MMORPG running its own, new, game while also helping people find their way to other versions of it, hosted elsewhere(*2).*2. And Diablo III's rollout was...typical. I assume it was a failure because people couldn't connect. World of Warcraft, too. Hmmm, looking at that it would appear that even companies, like Blizzard (and EA and Rockstar and Cryptic and...), that are expert about such things still have issues. Oh my. This means that a bunch of successful games are really failures. Thanks, Obama!

Mozart, DD, Modusoperandi .....Can you say Baa-aah like the sheep you have become to government shepherd?

"After having thus taken each individual one by one into its powerful hands, and having molded him as it pleases, the sovereign power extends its arms over the entire society; it covers the surface of society with a network of small, complicated, minute, and uniform rules, which the most original minds and the most vigorous souls cannot break through to go beyond the crowd; it does not break wills, but it softens them, bends them and directs them; it rarely forces action, but it constantly opposes your acting; it does not destroy, it prevents birth; it does not tyrannize, it hinders, it represses, it enervates, it extinguishes, it stupefies, and finally it reduces each nation to being nothing more than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd."[Alexis de Tocqueville Democracy in America]

Anonymous. Had you even tried to check the website out(and yes, you could have) It allows you to compare insurance policies side by side. Second, I love it when someone calls me a sheep (or even better a sheeple) because it's such a tired old cliche. I'll let you search for the irony in that one. You, like all the other conservatives blindly following the Koch Bros against the ACA, cannot even explain WHY it's bad. You just say it is. Hilarious. Conservatives are not afraid the ACA will fail, they are afraid it will be a success, and that is the greatest laugh of all.

"You, like all the other conservatives blindly following the Koch Bros against the ACA, cannot even explain WHY it's bad. You just say it is. Hilarious. Conservatives are not afraid the ACA will fail, they are afraid it will be a success, and that is the greatest laugh of all."

WHY? WHEN THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE HAVE TO SPEND MORE MONEY FOR LESS COVERAGE THEN ITS BAD. Unless of course you are a bottom feeder with no work ethic and mooch off the government.

The ACA will be as efficient as the Post Office, The Department of Motor Vehicles, Amtrak, Amerika's biggest monopoly The Public School system etc. All are black holes of tax payer money with no accountability and get away with Enron style accounting. That's why.

I am an old-fashioned Amerikan radical who believes it is not democracy when Corporations buy congressional votes but believes it is democracy when the Federal Government in backroom deals buys Senate votes with Federal grants paid from the People like with ObamaCare.

A better and peaceful world is possible — a world where people and nature come before profits. That’s socialism. That’s my vision. It is my dream that we all cross the economic finish line at the same time holding hands!

Corporations are not people, but Unions are people!

I believe the people should all be driving little electric cars to reduce our carbon footprint, but it is OK for our leaders in Washington to drive cadillacs and fly coast to coast in big jets like Nancy Pelosi every week. The Earth will soon be covered in water from man made global warming. We need to save the Polar Bears!

I believe the EPA needs to enforce laws to shut down business in order to protect the Spotted Owl, The Delta Smelt and other endangered species. I believe we should ignore an article in the Huffington Post that 573,000 birds are killed by the country's wind farms each year, including 83,000 hunting birds such as hawks, falcons and eagles, according to an estimate published in March in the peer-reviewed Wildlife Society Bulletin.

And don't forget the GOP hates women because they believe women should have to pay for their own birth control pills.

"After having thus taken each individual one by one into its powerful hands, and having molded him as it pleases, the sovereign power extends its arms over the entire society; it covers the surface of society with a network of small, complicated, minute, and uniform rules, which the most original minds and the most vigorous souls cannot break through to go beyond the crowd; it does not break wills, but it softens them, bends them and directs them; it rarely forces action, but it constantly opposes your acting; it does not destroy, it prevents birth; it does not tyrannize, it hinders, it represses, it enervates, it extinguishes, it stupefies, and finally it reduces each nation to being nothing more than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd."[Alexis de Tocqueville Democracy in America]

Dave Dubya:"Under socialism the workers and producers themselves would have had control of the means of production"

So in your case, the prison guards should run the prison?

Excuse me for being politically incorrect, but if the average IQ of prison guards is 80, which is slightly higher than people classified as mentally retarded, do you really expect me to believe in Socialism?

The best possible way to bring the German people back into work is to set German economic life once more in motion through great monumental works... This is not merely the hour in which we begin the building of the greatest network of roads in the world, this hour is at the same time a milestone on the road towards the building up of the community of the German people. -- Adolf Hitler

Dave Dubya,

Sounds like something a big central planning Socialist would approve, like FDR.

We see racist Fascists like "Harry Chuckie" love to quote Hitler. I bet they believe him too.

How about these quotes from their mentors?

“The war we are fighting until victory or the bitter end is in its deepest sense and war between Christ and Marx.” - Joseph Goebbels

"The National Government will regard it as its first and foremost duty to revive in the nation the spirit of unity and cooperation. It will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been built. It regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life." - Adolph Hitler

"Good con-servatives" share the same "principles" and hatreds. They even call Obama a Marxist to justify their own Jihad against the American people and their government.

No wonder the radical Right emulates Nazis in their demonization and scapegoating of those they hate, as they do their best to suppress democracy.

Prisons are "production"?

Yeah, like:

"ACA good. Obamacare bad".

Now there's some conned-servative IQ at work.

So where's their sane and compassionate alternative to Obamacare?

And while we're asking questions no Rightie has the IQ or honesty to answer, how about this one?

Who is represented more in the House of Representatives, the majority of Americans who voted for a democrat representative, or the Koch Brothers?

I wonder why they play the commie card, bellyache, lie, and whine so much. Their side is winning.

Ask Harry Reid about the plans the GOP have sent to the Senate that he has refused to even allow a vote on. Stop asking your stupid inane question about the conservative plan for health care. It will never be Big brother government enough for you DD

"Who is represented more in the House of Representatives, the majority of Americans who voted for a democrat representative, or the Koch Brothers?"

Get over it we won the House, you lost.

"Democracy is losing"Sure is when the Democrat Party way of requiring no voter id is the norm of the day. Sure is when proof of citizenship before applying for govt aid or voting is no longer required under the left wing liberal Democrat Party of today.

Alexis de Tocqueville was correct, liberal big brother govt is making us into dependent sheep. And the Democratic Party would be our shepherd.

Dave Dubya:"Under socialism the workers and producers themselves would have had control of the means of production"

Dave Dubya:"Prisons are "production"?"

So now according to Dave "The Deflector" Dubya, a new definition of Socialism exists:"Under socialism the workers and producers themselves would have had control of the means of production only when producing a physical product, but when producing a service (like the prison guards with an average IQ of 80, slightly above mental retardation) this would not apply and they would be slaves of the Capitalists."

The last I heard GDP consists of Goods and SERVICES.

Wikipedia that source Dave Dubya used for his "ism" lecture:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factors_of_productionFactors of production (or productive 'inputs' or 'resources') are any commodities or services used to produce goods or services.

So Dave, even though you were on the debate team at that shitty liberal arts college that resulted in you getting a shitty job where the average IQ is 80 for your service, YOU ARE A RADICAL LEFT WING FUCKING IDIOT!

Dave, I look forward to a foaming at the mouth deflecting reply that includes Rush, Glen, and the poster with Obama with a bone in his nose! Lets hear your rage you looney left wing idiot!

Anonymous"Ask Harry Reid about the plans the GOP have sent to the Senate that he has refused to even allow a vote on."And which of the zero CR bills and resolutions the House has passed (aside from things like the multiple "Fund the Thing We Like but Nothing Else Act") has the Reid refused to bring to the floor of the Senate since the shutdown are those?

So what's the problem with the House funding things they like? The democrats have never ever done that? What are they supposed to fund, things they don't like?What an idiot.

What could possible go wrong with the big brother government managing my health care and having access to all my personal information?

"BOSTON (CBS) – A possible glitch in a computer system upgrade was causing major problems nationwide with the Electronic Benefits Transfer System on Saturday, as a countless number of shoppers found themselves stranded at the register.

Reports from around the country began pouring in around 9 a.m. on Saturday that customers’ EBT cards were not working in stores.

The glitch, however, did not appear to be part of the government shutdown. At 2 p.m., an EBT customer service representative told CBS Boston that the system was currently down for a computer system upgrade.

The representative said the glitch is affecting people nationwide. She could not say when officials expected the system to be restored."

Line up over here Sheep, liberal government is going to take care of all your concerns.

And, while I'm here, on the subject of your most recent distracton:Anonymous"BOSTON (CBS) – A possible glitch in a computer system upgrade was causing major problems nationwide with the Electronic Benefits Transfer System on Saturday, as a countless number of shoppers found themselves stranded at the register...Line up over here Sheep, liberal government is going to take care of all your concerns."You know, when you bring up examples of government not working, it's probably not the best idea to bring up something brought about via the Republican heavy (and, much to the chagrin of us, Bill "end welfare as we have come to know it" Clinton) Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (House, Senate), a bill that forced states to switch to the very electronic system* you're disparaging, and, for double irony, one run by a private contractor.

* It should also be noted that the switch from stamps to a card was actually a good thing, cutting costs, reducing fraud and providing greater accountability. The Act itself is bad because, via Block Grants, it enabled states to push welfare money in to holes elsewhere in their budgets (to the point that some states cut their rolls during the Recession), and since it's capped Federally, turned a good countercyclical program (that, to be fair, did have its faults) into a program that can't react to negative changes in the economy.

Now that I am 75 years old, I can say that I have never seen such ugly government as we have had in the last 6 years. In so short a time we were transformed from the best medical system in the world to socialized medicine.

In 6 years we had the federal debt increase from about 6 trillion to 17 trillion with nothing to show for it by an overbearing government that set up agencies more powerful than the Congress. Every taxpayer now owns $110,000 of national debt before interest is factored in - $170,000 after interest is factored in.

I have never seen such strife between the parties and democrats and republicans. Obama came into office on the promise of bringing us together - he did the opposite. He has said many time, I won, you lost. That's his moniker. Such a disastrous president.

What America needs now is to cope with the massive debt and to reinstate personal freedom and free market solutions that made America special. How will it be done? I don't know.

APPeople in Ohio, Michigan and 15 other states found themselves unable to use their food stamp debit-style cards on Saturday, after a routine test of backup systems by vendor Xerox Corp. resulted in a system failure.

"While the electronic benefits system is now up and running, beneficiaries in the 17 affected states continue to experience connectivity issues to access their benefits. Technical staff is addressing the issue and expect the system to be restored soon," Xerox spokeswoman Jennifer Wasmer said in an emailed statement.

U.S. Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Courtney Rowe underscored that the outage is not related to the government shutdown."

If this had happen when GWB was in office the liberals and their media would be screaming at the top of their lungs this was another example of how the GOP hates the poor and wants them all to die. That big business must be made to pay, etc.

Harry, ALL those things you mentioned were VERY efficient until the Bush administration. Wonder why? And I dare you to walk up to a prison guard anywhere in the country and tell them their IQ is 80. See how long you continue to suck air. Sre you REALLY that arrogant and stupid?

Anonymous, do you not see the irony in calling people "sheep"? (clue: it's a cliche)

The HC system we had was NOT the "greatest in the world" unless of course you were rich. If not any major medical issue would send you into bankruptsy or at least a lifetime of debt. "Socialized medicine" is the way it SHOULD be, and is that way in every civillized nation except ours.

Harry, I wonder if you have ever met a prison guard.Maybe you have. Hmmm..One wonders how long you were in prison. These are people who work very hard at a thankless job, many of whom work Thanksgivings and Christmases, so show a little respect. Anonymous, you need to stop beleiving everythingFox news tells you.

"Under socialism the workers and producers themselves would have had control of the means of production"

So in your case, the prison guards should run the prison?

You see Mr. High IQ, YOU are the one referring to a prison as a "means of production" LOL! I questioned that. But then you attack me for it.

Swell guy.

But here’s a clue. You’d better hope the guards run the prison. They do their duty to the public, unlike the crackpots who hijacked the House.

Is stating just the fact that the average IQ of a prison guard is 80 a crime?

No, just a lie and glaring example of open hatred. I still try to hate the sin and love the sinner.

What do you suppose is the IQ of your "ACA Good, Obamacare bad" nitwits?

How about those who believe "liberals are destroying America" and "Obama is a Marxist", and the ACA has "Death panels"?

You most likely rate your IQ quite high, but are probably as ignorant of your own IQ, as much as that of others. Your score isn’t that impressive, judging by your lack of logic and reasoning and failure to understand facts.

"Democracy is losing"

Sure is when the Democrat Party way of requiring no voter id is the norm of the day.

Voter suppression in order to win is the admitted goal of republicans.

Evidence:

“Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done." - GOP State House Majority Leader Mike Turazi (R-Allegheny)

Senate Republican Mike Bennett, from Bradenton, suggested it might be too easy to cast a ballot.

"We do make it convenient for people to vote," he said. "But I have to tell you, I don't have a problem making it harder. I want people in Florida to want to vote as bad as that person in Africa who walks 200 miles across the desert. This should not be easy."

Several states, including New Mexico and Florida, have enacted restrictive laws that interfere with the ability of groups to do voter registration drives. A court refused to block the New Mexico law, and a number of community groups, especially those that work with volunteers, have not been able to register new voters.

gliderpilot"Now that I am 75 years old, I can say that I have never seen such ugly government as we have had in the last 6 years. In so short a time we were transformed from the best medical system in the world to socialized medicine."1. Irony: You're on Medicare, which is Single Payer.2a. Note: Obamacare (private insurance to private hospitals and private doctors) is not socialized medicine.2b. Note: Medicaid's expansion expanded an existing program, benefiting mostly the working poor. It, like Medicare, is Single Payer and, like Medicare and Obamacare, uses private health care delivery. Of the three Obamacare is the least socialized. Unless you were complaining about the VA, which is "socialized medicine" (in which case, you're way, way too late).

"In 6 years we had the federal debt increase from about 6 trillion to 17 trillion with nothing to show for it by an overbearing government that set up agencies more powerful than the Congress."1. In 2007 it was 9 trillion.2. In 2008 something happened that radically effected both tax receipts and countercyclical spending, reasonably for a decade. Worldwide.

"Obama came into office on the promise of bringing us together - he did the opposite."To be fair, his mere existence is the source of a bunch of that. His party affiliation and him winning formed the rest.

"He has said many time, I won, you lost."1. "many time", {citation needed}2. Is it so really much to expect that the nominal majority have some part in setting the agenda? And even Obamacare, remember, was in reaction to the nation's disproportionate, deficit-driving, and increasing expenditures, propping up the existing system. Dodd-Frank, too.

"What America needs now is to cope with the massive debt…"What's the Dem plan for the debt?(*1) What's the Republican one?(*2)*1. Nibble now, bite later. Tackle entitlements (see Deficit Commission, Budget Control Act, Sequestration)*2. Bite now, bite later. Tackle entitlements (see Ryan plan)Pause and consider what "entitlements" are. As someone on both Social Security and Medicare (and, potentially, Medicaid), that word used in the context of deficit and debt reduction should be raising alarm bells.Obama, to his credit, cut things like overpayments to providers under Medicare Advantage (for which he was attacked for "Stealing $500B from Medicare"), and to my dismay, flits with things like changing the way SS payouts deal with inflation.Ryan privatizes and reduces oversight for Medicare (keeping, with no hint of shame, most of the "cuts" and tax increases they attacked Obama for), guts and block grants Medicaid, and starves Social Security by partially privatizing it (having it follow the market. The market that just wiped out 401Ks). Full stop.

"...and to reinstate personal freedom…"What freedom have you lost? The freedom to not have health insurance? You do know that's really the freedom to have others pay for your trips to the ER (the most expensive and least effective mean of healthcare), right? No man is an island. Freedom has costs either way, morally and financially.Also, you already lost that freedom before, Mister Medicare.

Has anyone forgotten that when Obama and Reid when both were Senators, they said the military surge in Iraq would not work?

Any one remember when the Democrats tried to defund our troops fighting in Iraq, because as Reid said, the war was lost already?

Remember when Gen. David Petraeus said that President Barack Obama acknowledged that the troop surge in the Iraq war was a success during deliberations over whether to enact a troop surge in Afghanistan?

Remember when Obama promised he would close down Gittmo if elected?

Remember when Obama promised that we could keep our Dr. or health insurance if we wanted to under ACA?

Remember when the Obama administration lied to us when it said the NSA was NOT spying on Americans?

Remember when Obama used the IRS to block those opposed to him from getting the tax status they legally requested?

Remember when Obama promised us thousands of "good paying jobs' in green energy?

gliderpilot"...and free market solutions that made America special."An open, transparent exchange of private health insurance is about as close as you can get to "free market solution" (with the nasty government interference being mostly only the level of forcing transparency, setting the standards that make the comparison shopping possible and, with the abolution of denial for preexisting conditions [necessitating the Mandate to pay for it] dealing specifically with a market, not a government, failure). Unless, that is, you think people who with preexisting conditons shouldn't have heathcare, in which case look in the mirror (Medicare came about, in part, because insurance companies considered "old" to be a preexisting condition, charging premiums that meant half of the elderly didn't have health insurance).

Anonymous"Just all at once after a law goes into effect in 1996, this problem happens (2013) and Moe figures it's time to blame the GOP. Like clockwork."Did you read what I wrote? Do you know how to argue in good faith? Do you even know what that is?

* Shorter version: "It's probably not the best idea to bring up a private market solution preferred and enacted mostly by Republicans to show that government doesn't work".

Anonymous"Unfortunately, it’s just because Obama and his administration are remarkably ignorant and incompetent."Yeah! Take that, first president to dialogue with Iran since 1979!

Harry"Mozart, Is stating just the fact that the average IQ of a prison guard is 80 a crime?" (fm: "Excuse me for being politically incorrect, but if the average IQ of prison guards is 80, which is slightly higher than people classified as mentally retarded, do you really expect me to believe in Socialism?")1. {citation needed} on the IQ claim. Not that it's wrong, mind you, but the average US IQ is only 98, so I can't take any chances. No offence. I'm just saying what you're saying. That since the group to which you belong below average, you're below average. From that it's quite reasonable to question everything you say, and to assume, nay pre-assume, that you're wrong. I hope that's clear. But, again, no offense. 3. No, it's not a crime. It is, however, a toxic combination of Logical Fallacies (ad hominem/genetic fallacy/poisoning the well/prejudicial language, complex question/non sequitur).

"Sounds like something a big central planning Socialist would approve, like FDR."Obviously. Hitler and FDR are the same, although if you really want to make it a smear it was Ike who initiated the massive road expansion project of the modern interstate highway system. Meh. It's all the same: either way you'd still be comparing Hitler and someone who fought Hitler.

Anonymous"Ask Harry Reid about the plans the GOP have sent to the Senate that he has refused to even allow a vote on."Again I have to state that there are no plans the GOP sent to the Senate that Reid can bring to the floor. The closest example that's been brought up, Senator Collin's plan, is just a draft of a bill that's being passed around, assessing support.Nor should he. This persistent crisis-to-crisis hostage taking has done nothing but harm (the death by a thousand cuts of the austerity-lite of Simpson-Bowles/BCA/Sequestration has measurably harmed growth. and the burp down on the graph is what happened the last time the GOP threatened default).

Nine insurance companies are pulling out of Nebraska's major medical insurance market, and some of them cite Obamacare as the reason for their departure.

Seven of the nine companies have notified the state of their plans to leave since August. Most of them have a minor piece of the major medical market in Nebraska, and likely don't think it's worth it to make the changes necessary to comply with the federal health care law.

What difference does it make now?

The National Security Agency has gotten the green light to continue its controversial collection of U.S. phone call records.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court authorized the program for limited time periods — with a requirement that the government submit new requests every several weeks, The Hill reported Friday.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence announced the court’s approval in a statement late Friday.

The phone record snooping — first revealed in leaks by Edward Snowden — generated criticism from privacy advocates and some lawmakers, who are concerned the collection affects millions of Americans who aren’t suspected of any wrongdoing.

Anonymous"Has anyone forgotten that when Obama and Reid when both were Senators, they said the military surge in Iraq would not work?

Any one remember when the Democrats tried to defund our troops fighting in Iraq, because as Reid said, the war was lost already?

Remember when Gen. David Petraeus said that President Barack Obama acknowledged that the troop surge in the Iraq war was a success during deliberations over whether to enact a troop surge in Afghanistan?

Remember when Obama promised he would close down Gittmo if elected?

Remember when Obama promised that we could keep our Dr. or health insurance if we wanted to under ACA?

Remember when the Obama administration lied to us when it said the NSA was NOT spying on Americans?

Remember when Obama used the IRS to block those opposed to him from getting the tax status they legally requested?

Remember when Obama promised us thousands of "good paying jobs' in green energy?

Remember who is President now?

I didn't think so."{substantial rebuttal of most of Anoymous' points}*

* I'm just saving time, since you won't read it in good faith, won't read it for comprehension, or won't read it at all before posting your next "throw a bunch of things at the wall to see what sticks" post.

The democratic way of life is predicated upon faith in the masses of mankind, yet few of the leaders of democracy really possess faith in the people. If anything, our democratic way of life is permeated by man's fear of man. The powerful few fear the many, and the many distrust each other. Personal opportunism and greedy exploitation link the precinct captain, the mayor, the governor, and the Congress into one cynical family. It is difficult to find the faintest flicker of faith in man whether one scours the Democrats from the southern racist poll taxers to their northern corrupt city machines or scrutinizes the decayed reactionariesof the Republicans.

On the contrary, it will be found that with few exceptions all of these leaders, regardless of their party labels or affiliations, share in common a deep fear and suspicion of the masses of people. Let the masses remain inert, unthinking; do not disturb them, do not arouse them; do not get them moving, for if you do you are an agitator, a trouble maker, a Red! You are un-American, you are a Radical!

you need to focus on the growing racism in your country (Canada) before you throw stones at the USA.

Haroon Siddiqui Columnist,

"Jews have historically been falsely accused of wielding too much power. Now Canadian Muslims are, especially in Quebec.

A national poll has taken a measure of bigots who exaggerate the power of those they dislike. Nearly a third of Canadians believe Muslims have too much influence in their province. In Quebec, 43 per cent think so. This is ironic, given that Canadian Muslims report feeling under siege and helpless to stop the demonization directed at them because of Muslim mayhem elsewhere in the world.

A second poll corroborates the increasing hostility toward Muslims — again, more so in Quebec.

Nearly 70 per cent of Quebecers don’t like Islam. In the rest of Canada, 54 per cent don’t.

Next on Quebecers’ hit list is Sikhism, disliked by 43 per cent, followed by Judaism, disliked by 41 per cent.

In the rest of Canada, 39 per cent view Sikhism negatively, 29 per cent Hinduism and 22 per cent Judaism.

Who holds the most negative views? Both polls point to the old, the less educated and the less wealthy."

Who would have guessed it, Canada, a nation of racist, hating , under educated, poor people. Sounds like the perfect liberal Obama voter!

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America 's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, 'the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."

Regardless of how all these political shenanigans are perceived by the media and in the nation's capitol, it is having a very different effect on the American people.

From armed park rangers to barricades on our open air memorials, what the American people are experiencing is a police state figuratively and literally.

I have a very real belief that we the people aren't going to sit idly at being ordered at gunpoint to cease and desist under penalty of arrest for taking pictures of a Buffalo. What's next, are they going to put us all on a reservation?

MO,I'm just saving time, since you won't read it in good faith, won't read it for comprehension, or won't read it at all before posting your next "throw a bunch of things at the wall to see what sticks" post.

You can't expect those with lower than average IQ's to read and comprehend, let alone enter into good faith discussion. The same is true for cult members.

Thus...Alinsky! Alinsky! Alinsky!

Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi!

Commies! Commies! Commies!

Distract, deflect, ignore the points, and attack the person.

We "low IQ commies" are used to that.

It's what the racist neo-fascists call us all the time. These are the wild-eyed true believers who accept Hitler's word that he was a socialist and not a fascist. So liberals are both commies and Nazis to their cult.

It's what they need to cling to in their cult of highly mobilized resentment, hate and anger.

If they had lick of sense, instead of only brainwashed fits of rage and loathing, they'd feel pretty humiliated by now. But humility is also not in their cult. They know all they need to know...until Rush and FOX(R) tells them who else to hate and blame.

Remember these are deluded fanatics who believe liberals are destroying America. They are indoctrinated to believe the only hope is to allow the minority of economic elites to dictate all public policy.

More Americans voted for democratic representation, yet the Kochs control the House of Representatives.

And where is is the sane and compassionate alternative to Obamacare?

Never mind, it's not about healthcare.

It's about shutting down the Black guy, and suppressing democracy at all costs. They make good fascists.

Talk about the lid calling the kettle black! DD has those actions down to an art form.

Is it deflection to ask why the liberal democrat rejected a compromise offered by the moderate GOP Senator Collins? Is it deflection to ask why Harry Reid & President Obama are ok with tinkering with the sequester bill, while claiming they dont want to tinker with the ACA bill?

Isn't that more than just a little two faced? Isn't that action kind of radical? Isn't that a very uncompromising position? How is the left going to blame the Tea Party for the democrats refusal to compromise?

None of these points are personal attacks towards Dave or Moe.How are these points deflection, and if they are what are they deflecting from?

In an attempt to deflect from the harsh truth that liberalism can not win in the free market place of ideas Dave Dubya in an act of desperation because he knows he has nothing else to play has used the RACE CARD!

"It's about shutting down the Black guy"

Personal liberal attack alert, personal liberal attack alert!!

Dave Dubya while claiming those who dont agree with his dangerous risk far left radical view of world, claims those who disagree are:fascistssuppressing democracy at all costscult members

WASHINGTON — In March, Henry Chao, the chief digital architect for the Obama administration’s new online insurance marketplace, told industry executives that he was deeply worried about the Web site’s debut. “Let’s just make sure it’s not a third-world experience,” he told them.

Two weeks after the rollout, few would say his hopes were realized.

For the past 12 days, a system costing more than $400 million and billed as a one-stop click-and-go hub for citizens seeking health insurance has thwarted the efforts of millions to simply log in. The growing national outcry has deeply embarrassed the White House, which has refused to say how many people have enrolled through the federal exchange.

Dave Dubya,Looks like the Health Portal is a clusterfuk according to the NYTimes, not Faux News.You OK with that?

Modusoperandi,How are you going to spin this one?How about, We just need to make a minor revision like the iphone.

Isn't the shutdown part of a plan for NWO to begin? H.A.A.R.P. mind control and body control have been in Montgomery county being tested since 2004. My husband, MARCUS PENN and I were forced into it under threat of arrest at Victory Tower in Takoma Park, MD. We have 20 countries represented here many INS and FEMA displaced persons with little or no family. Since 2011 we have had drones which now they are publically announcing with nearby College Park study. Marcus was shot twice in 2011 by drones. I saw it. I was shot by drone in August 2012 but a friend in apt saved me. Takoma Park is a tested city. It is gearing up for some event with additional preparedness and mild warnings. There are more watchers and they are more open not worrying about others noticing what they do. I am under 24/7 surveillance and punished for speaking out. Marcus was injured by drones so much he was no longer of use to study not alive but dead he was prime candidate for the BRAIN Initiative. He was from a unique gene pool of close knit Jews from Russia being first born American generation and the rare blue-eyed one that shows up in a male every so many generations. He was injured purposely by drones to cause specific type of brain damage just right for new study. But he could still talk. He is not supposed to be able to talk. The interviewers were incompetent idiots. My way or jail attitude so no one in that atmosphere would volunteer any info. He didn't ask if Marcus had dyslexia or prior brain injury or if he could read and write in Hebrew and Marcus didn't tell. They also overlooked he was left-handed. Government employee need I say more? No funeral no corpse. I had nothing to bury. I was told never mention his name and they erased his life.